By Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, September 2 – THE ICE Futures Canada canola market ended lower, following losses in the vegetable oil market.
US soyoil, Malaysian palm oil and European rapeseed futures were all lower which weighed down canola throughout the session.
Technical selling was a feature of today’s activity, according to a trader. He also noted harvest pressure could be coming to bear on values.
However, the Canadian dollar was slightly lower relative to its US counterpart which made canola slightly more attractive to out-of-country buyers.
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There are ideas the crop could be oversold which has prompted some traders to look for bargains, according to a report.
Statistics Canada is scheduled to release its ending stocks report Thursday morning.
Crush margins are said to be improving slightly.
Around 18,345 canola contracts were traded on Wednesday, which compares with Tuesday when around 20,272 contracts changed hands.
Milling wheat, barley and durum were all untraded.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were steady to three cents per bushel lower at Wednesday’s close, with the most active November contract finishing unchanged on the day.
Soybeans traded to both sides of unchanged throughout the session, with the ongoing uncertainty and volatility in the outside financial markets keeping some caution in the futures.
Forecasts calling for hot and dry weather conditions in parts of the Midwest were somewhat supportive, but private forecasts calling for bumper crops were bearish.
SOYOIL settled lower on Wednesday, as a downturn in the global crude oil markets weighed on vegetable oil prices.
SOYMEAL futures were higher on Wednesday, as spreading against soyoil provided some support.
CORN futures in Chicago were down by one to two cents per bushel on Wednesday, after moving to both sides of unchanged in choppy activity.
Losses in crude oil put some pressure on corn, given the grain crops connection with ethanol production.
Harvest operations are starting up in the southern US, which put further pressure on the corn market.
However, weather concerns in parts of the Midwest did remain supportive, according to participants.
WHEAT futures in Chicago were down by two to 11 cents per bushel on Wednesday, testing fresh contract lows as ample world supplies and poor demand for relatively expensive US wheat weighed on values.
Recent strength in the US dollar contributed to the bearish tone, as the firmer currency makes US wheat even less attractive to international buyers.
The advancing spring wheat harvest in the northern tier states and Canada also weighed on prices.
However, ideas that the losses were overdone did help temper the declines to some extent.
– Kazakhstan has exported over 800,000 tonnes of grain during July and August, which was up from the same two-month period the previous year, according to the country’s Agriculture Ministry.
– Japan is tendering to purchase 126,805 tonnes of milling wheat from Canada or the US.
– A study out of Italy found that roughly two-thirds of non-celiac people claiming a sensitivity to gluten actually had no ill effects when consuming the protein found in wheat and other grains.
